Against a backdrop of grim job losses, the White House and Senate Democrats secured a deal with moderate Republicans Friday to clear the way for passage of President Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan.

After days of watching from the sidelines, Rahm Emanuel, the president’s chief of staff, came to the Capitol Friday afternoon to help seal the arrangement. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he hoped to complete passage on Monday, and a party caucus Friday night indicated strong Democratic support.

“We have a deal” said one official, and at least three Republicans are expected to back the revised bill: Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

“Is it perfect? No. But this bill is an enormous improvement,” Collins said. “The American people don’t want to see partisan gridlock. They don’t want to see us divided and fighting. They want to see us working together to solve the most important crisis facing our country.”

“Personally I would prefer not to be on the edge of the pin as so frequently is the case in this body,” Specter said. “But I do believe we have to act.”

Specter and Collins figured prominently in the meeting with Emanuel, together with Reid in the leader’s second-floor Capitol office. Reid had already signaled to Collins and Specter that he would accept spending cuts in the range of $80 billion. With the addition of Emanuel to the mix, final concessions were made, and having Emanuel present was good political insurance for Reid in dealing with House Democrats down the road.

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While details are still incomplete, it appears the package, as initially brought to the Senate floor, will be scaled back by about $82 billion in spending reductions and $25 billion in tax cuts. In addition, tax cuts approved on the Senate floor this week for car and home purchases would be modified, and the total bill then would be in the range of $800 billion.

Lost in the process—or scaled back significantly— are some important Democratic initiatives and at least $47 billion in promised aid to the states. New Pell Grant funding is largely preserved, but $16 billion in school construction funds would be cut, and increases for popular programs like Head Start cut in half.

Obama’s own agenda is not immune. The deal would trim back new funds committed for expanding broadband access and improving the electrical grid as well as investments in health information technology.

Specter’s role is striking since he is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which helped write the bill. On the floor this week, Democrats like Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin helped him secure increased funding for the National Institutes of Health—a Specter priority. Yet in the talks, it appears that $5.8 billion in public health funds for the treatment of preventable diseases—a Harkin priority— would be severely cut or even wiped out.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) , who has been critical himself of the initial package, said he expected Reid will enjoy a solid Democratic vote. “My sense from the caucus,” he said, “was that the caucus was united, that the package had been improved, and people would support it.”

Senate passage will not be the end of the process but will allow the administration to move into final negotiations with both the House and Senate together, when more adjustments are sure to be made. Clerks were just beginning to translate the agreement into legislative text Friday night, and Republicans were threatening a possible filibuster. But Reid was confident he could hold together his 60-plus votes, and the White House hopes to move as fast as possible since the House-Senate negotiations promise to be difficult and time consuming.

Friday’s agreement followed the release of new Labor Department numbers showing that as many as 598,000 workers lost their jobs in January — the worst since 1974 and pushing the unemployment rate up to 7.6 percent. “These numbers demand action,” Obama said earlier in the day. “It is inexcusable and irresponsible to get bogged down in distraction and delay while millions of Americans are being put out of work. It is time for Congress to act.”

But as Obama has stepped up his rhetoric, so has his old rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Friday’s exchanges sometimes resembled a flashback to the 2008 presidential campaign.

"It will take months even years to renew our economy," Obama said. "But every day that Washington fails to act, that recovery is delayed."

Taking on the Senate floor later, McCain accused his old opponent of failing to reach out to Republicans as much as Obama once promised.

“We want to have legislation that stimulates this economy,” said McCain. “But we want it to stimulate the economy, not mortgage the future of our children and our grandchildren by the kind of fiscal profligate spending that’s embodied in this legislation.”

McCain appeared to zero-in on those moderates like Collins and Specter, and through the day the two senators were the center of attention coming and going from Reid’s office.

More than in the past, Reid took a more direct hand in dealing with the Republicans, and his working relationship with Collins was most important. It was at her urging Thursday night that he changed his plan to keep the Senate in all night, and the two could be seen through the open doors of the Senate back lobby as she appealed to the Democratic leader to back away from what might have been a tense standoff.

“Everyone’s going to have to give a little and understand this is a process,” Reid said Friday. In the afternoon, he held an hour-long meeting with Collins and Specter at which he presented a counter offer estimated to include about $80 billion in savings.

The deeper cuts are sure to rile House Democrats. For this reason, having Emanuel on hand is good insurance for Reid, since the chief of staff is not just the president’s man but also a former lieutenant for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).